News & Events
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
• KRNV Channel 4 News
Nevada now has 64 new physicians. UNR Med says it was the first-ever hybrid commencement, meaning it was both in-person and virtual. The ceremony was held at the Atlantis. UNR Med says out of the 64 graduates, many will be relocating to communities throughout the state and nation.
• KTVN Channel 2 News
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine medical students had their Hooding ceremony, today. The School of Medicine put together a video message for the graduates who had a small viewing party at the Atlantis with most families watching online. The video had a special message from the Dean of the School of Medicine and a montage of medical students being hooded.
• KUNR
Para proveer atención médica a las zonas rurales, los estudiantes de medicina de la Universidad de Nevada en Reno organizan estas clínicas gratuitas en coordinación con la Coalición de Comunidades Saludables, o Healthy Communities Coalition en inglés. Esta organización sin fines de lucro tiene su sede en la zona rural de Dayton, y ayuda a las personas que tienen dificultades para atender su salud.
• US News & World Report
Eight other cases of the Indian variant have been identified in northern Nevada, including four confirmed last week in the Reno area, officials have said. Dr. Mark Pandori, head of the state Public Health Laboratory at University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Nevada cases also were identified among people in Carson City and Churchill and Lyon counties.
• Nevada Independent
As UNR navigates an uncertain budget situation, state lawmakers and Sandoval lauded one bright spot on the horizon — the unanimous passage of SB342 out of the Assembly on Monday, giving regents the green light to approve a partnership between UNR’s medical school and Renown Health. “SB342 addresses an immediate opportunity for UNR Med and Renown Health to respond to rapid changes in medical care delivery and medical education, leading to widespread benefits for the health and well being of all Nevadans,” Assemblywoman Jill Tolles (R-Reno) said during floor remarks in support of the bill. Sandoval said that if the regents approve the partnership, it would be a “game changer” for the School of Medicine and for health care in Northern Nevada. Not only would the partnership increase clinical and research opportunities for students and health care access in the region, he said, it would also eventually expand enrollment.
• KTVN Channel 2 News
Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at upcoming UNR Med Student Outreach Clinics and Rural Outreach Clinics.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
There have been eight other reported cases of Indian variants in the state: four in Washoe County, two in Carson City, one in Churchill County; and one in Lyon County, said Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory at University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine. Within the state, the lab conducts the majority of sequencing of the virus that causes COVID-19.
• AP News
Dr. Mark Pandori, head of the state Public Health Laboratory at University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Nevada cases also were identified among people in Carson City and Churchill and Lyon counties.
• KUNR
To bring care to rural communities, UNR medical students organize free, pop-up clinics in coordination with the Healthy Communities Coalition. The nonprofit is based in the rural Dayton area and helps people struggling with access to health care and food insecurities.
• Public News Service
John Packham, associate dean for the office of statewide initiatives at the University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, said the lifestyle and the unmet demand for medical care make Nevada an attractive place to start a new practice. "We have a really high retention rate," Packham observed. "Typically, between 50% and 60% of physicians every year who complete their residencies and fellowships in Nevada, stay in Nevada to practice." Packham added he's keeping an eye on budget negotiations, and hopes to see full funding for higher education, for the Governor's Task Force on Graduate Medical Education, and for the Nevada Health Service Corps, which pays off student loans for doctors who agree to practice in medically underserved areas.
• KTVN Channel 2 News
• FOX 5 News Las Vegas
Dr. Mark Riddle, Associate Dean for Clinical Research, University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine, weighed in on possible causes of the breakthrough cases. He said some people may not have strong immune responses, so they don't develop the necessary protection. Some may have waning immunity, saying the health community doesn't fully understand how long vaccine protection lasts but studies are underway. And Dr. Riddle said some people may have been exposed to one of the variants of concern where the vaccine may not have worked as well. The doctor also said the state expected breakthrough cases because vaccines are not 100% effective in fighting COVID-19.
• Next Avenue
Dementia Friendly Nevada: Jennifer Carson, a dementia researcher at University of Nevada, Reno, hoped to expand programs for people living with dementia beyond the usual orbit of aging services professionals. "We want to transform the broader community, so how do we find those pathways to change?" she says. "We set as a standard to have diverse representation" across many sectors and to include people with dementia in leadership.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
Seven cases have been detected in Nevada of a coronavirus strain thought to be contributing to the catastrophic surge of COVID-19 in India. Six cases occurred in Washoe County and a seventh in Churchill County of this strain, which was first detected in India, said Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. The B.1.617 strain, or variant, is sometimes referred to as a “double mutant” because it possesses two key mutations as well as others considered less significant.
• KTVN Channel 2 News
Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at upcoming University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) Student Outreach Clinics and Rural Outreach Clinics, in Lovelock and Yerington, Nevada.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
Mark Pandori is an associate professor with the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, located on campus in a low-slung beige building that looks a bit like a bunker. It is there that Nevada’s war on coronavirus mutants is staged each day, using advanced technology to combat the spread of potentially more deadly strains of the disease.
• PBS Reno
Pandori said Nevada is currently considering developing and deploying PCR screening for the two other strains of concern — B.1.351 and P.1 — that are, for now, much less widespread. “Those are scary variants and they exist in relatively low frequency,” he said. “You still have an opportunity there to cast a wide net. We see the value in it. I get the sense others might not recognize that.”
• KXRI Fox 11 News
The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine will be offering a free Rural Outreach Clinic for underinsured and uninsured people on the same day, Sunday, April 25 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at South Lyon at 213 South Whitacre Street in Yerington.
• Northern Nevada Business Weekly
The University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med) has named Aaron Dieringer, M.D., MPH, as assistant dean of admissions and chair of the admissions executive committee.
• STAT Health
In December, for example, Nevada’s sequencing wasn’t as fast as Mark Pandori, director of the state’s public health laboratory, would have liked. So he and his colleagues developed a PCR assay “as a screening test” that was specific to B.1.1.7 in order to keep a more timely eye on the variant. “If you just wanted to do a sweep,” Pandori said, “you could test a lot of specimens very quickly.”
• KOLO Channel 8 News
Northern Nevadans who are uninsured, underinsured or without a social security number can receive free medical care at an upcoming UNR Med Rural Outreach Clinic in Yerington, Nevada this weekend. UNR Med offers the free clinics in a continuing effort to assist the region's medically uninsured with needed health care services.
• KSNV News 3 Las Vegas
Task Force member Dr. Mark Pandori, who serves as the director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory, said vaccination rates appear to be heading off a significant spread of variant versions of the coronavirus. “That’s happening in the face of what is a transition, genetically, where we're seeing almost, not exclusively, but an extremely large increase in variants of concern, so these are viruses that have the biology to even spread more quickly,” Pandori said.
• KVVU FOX 5 Las Vegas
"The vaccines are 95% effective. But that means for every 100 people, there are going to be five people that are going to have breakthrough disease. And so it's not unexpected," said Dr. Mark Riddle of UNR School of Medicine.
• Las Vegas Review Journal
The U.K. variant, which according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spreads more rapidly and carries an increased risk of death compared to other variants. It is now the dominant strain of coronavirus circulating in the U.S. and Nevada, according to Mark Pandori, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory at the School of Medicine at the University of Nevada, Reno.
• Galena Times
We often hear about the importance of child health, the wellbeing of what so many people refer to as our most preciousresource. But what do we mean by child health? Max J. Coppes M.D., professor & Nell J. Redfield chair of pediatrics; physician-in-chief, Renown Children’s Hospital, explains. (See. p. 9 for full article.)
